Annnnnd... I'm confused again.

[byelka58]

Graduate school has reduced me to such a level that I cannot even quit the thing correctly. To be fair, I was never any good at making decisions unless 1) I could flip a coin or 2) there were definitely no take-backs; i.e., the result was either unimportant or immediate. Leaving the program in two quarters' time, of course, is neither of those.

Comments

[gabbiana]

14) Your advisor makes good points. I can see why you'd call him the Devil, of course: Who *is* he to go shaking your resolve like that?
14a) But yeah, high school students do suck.
14b) And free pass to Europe? Holy pastries, Batman!
14c) "I have to admire the fact that I'd be forced to do something I would probably enjoy but almost certainly never make myself do otherwise." Yes. Think of grad school like visiting Jackson, except in lieu of an AIM chatroom of distant presences, you've got several embodied fellow students, and also two advisors (who may or may not be embodied, especially if one is the Dark Lord), and instead of a weekend trip to Wisconsin, you've got a yearlong pass to, uh, St. Petersburg, or wherever.

15) I like that your life is like The NeverEnding story: Name your problem (or princess), and it goes away (or recovers its kingdom).
15a) Okay, that metaphor sucked.

16) Speaking of yummy frozen treats, I'd like to recommend this ice cream. It is good in a way that 100-calorie ice cream should never

[byelka58]

I highly resent being shown up in my own comments. For future reference, your goal should be to suck as much as me, plus 5%, or to rock as hard as me, minus 5%.

I will attempt a full response later; meanwhile, here's the poetry thread. Good stuff is to be found therein.

[byelka58]

His arguments are annoyingly good, which is how I think of Satan, mostly. Like he would have a very reasonable-sounding response, one that touches upon every sensitive spot in your brain, deftly combining flattery and implied challenge, and then he'd encourage you to think about it, all very open and no-pressure and draw-your-own-conclusion. But when the door closes behind you, he spends a few moments just looking at it. He intends to win.

You read Sinfest; you know what I'm talking about.

While we're on comics, I note that although your Neverending Story metaphor didn't entirely work (on the other hand, the empress and the problem both reside in an ivory tower, which is quite good), it does fall within a general uptick in NS references in my life of late. For instance, Overcompensating a few days ago (check the alt tag). I think I'll go put a necklace on my head and eat an apple core.

The thing is, I don't think you do know what Winnie "the Pooh" the Pooh would say if someone took his honey. I'm picturing the scene in Mystic

[kalliwoda]

"Only now it's a naked, strung-out bear, and his paws are bloodied from desperate sucking to capture the last sweet bits of honey matted into his fur."

That is the funniest thing I have read in a long (pauses to laugh and regain control of herself) time, and I haven't even seen Mystic River. I did hear that it mostly involves Sean Penn screaming at people, though.

A Friendly Word of Advice

[kalliwoda]

I have to confess that I haven't been reading people's entries all the way through, especially if they've done lj cuts, so I had no idea you were planning to drop out. I'm sure you have your reasons, whether they be sheer exhaustion or whatever. Believe me when I say that I understand how it feels to be totally overwhelmed with school and feel not only that there's nothing you can do about it, but that you don't belong there in the first place. When I got to Eastman, the entire studio had to play a scale exercise in the first studio class. Keep in mind that the juniors and seniors have been playing this exercise for two and three years at this point, and I've been playing it for a week or so. Needless to say, they rocked, and I did not, and since we played in order of seniority, their fantastic performance made me sound even worse than it really was. To make a long story short (Colonel Mustard: Too late), it completely shattered every last bit of self-confidence and convinced me that I got into the Eastman School of Music by

[byelka58]

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Honey, I had no idea. I'm so sorry that happened to you.

I do love the implication that I might someday shrug my shoulders and say, 'Well, you know, I don't think I'll ever make it into print the hard way, but damn if I can't shoot up my workplace.'

In honor of this post I will promise you personally, Laura, not to quit just because I'm scared (because my Russian is not as good as they think it is, because what makes me think I can handle real research projects, because I don't know how to get a PhD but I sure know how to shovel textbook material at bored teenagers). Doesn't mean I won't leave for other reasons, but you're right about that one.

Wrong about the brilliant, though. And don't worry; I only brought up quitting last week, so you haven't missed much.

[vislius]

Okay, this is a little random: but o (vocative) most learned one (substantive superlative adjective) in Live Journal footnoting (gerundive), how does one make footnotes in one's Live Journal?

[byelka58]

Would that there were (waaaaaay subjunctive) an easier way, or would that I knew it; I can only teach you to do it manually. Which is thusly: insert the number using [sup]1[/sup] tags, and upon reaching the notes section, declare [font size=1] and type your explanations. You should close the [/font] at the end, but if that's the last of your text, it doesn't matter. Replace all the square brackets with pointy ones, as always.

The same goes for inserting trademark symbols or ordinal markers or what-have-you. Cram it in to [sup] tags and you're in business. There are [sub] tags, too.

And [marquee]!

Hey, I wonder...

domisomidomisomidomisomido

...sweet.

[vislius]

Wheeeeeeee! Marquee is fun.

Many thanks.

[kalliwoda]

Wow. Y'all are the html masters. Hmm - another unintimidating superhero?

[kalliwoda]

My turn - let's see if this works.

Lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala!

[byelka58]

Keeeep watching...